Staff Debate: Coach of the Year

There's been lots of talk this week on InsideLacrosse.com about the importance of coaching.

Brian Coughlin's excellent statistical analysis kicked off this discussion in the office. He looked at "luck" — otherwise how far above or below expectations a team finished. One point he proposed is that it's not luck, but great coaching that drives a team above its expected win totals.

So which coach is deserving of coach of the year? There seems to be a consensus that the final matchup featured two of the best in the game. Here are our thoughts.

Zach Babo (@ZachBabo)

John Desko, Syracuse — “This may be the most coachable I’ve ever had” was a fond quotation reported from Desko about his Orange squad in 2013, but that hyperbole seems appropriate when you look what they did. This team lagged at the face-off X all year yet seemed to often out-possess their opponents, and when they were squarely on the other side of that line, they managed to still make the most of out limited touches more often than not. Think about what that says of Desko’s strategy and adaptability: he either devised ways to tip possession back in his favor (good groundball play, limiting turnovers), or figured out ways to strike quickly to get back in a game.

His team showed at times uncanny savvy on the field in terms of offensive flow, movement and off ball play. While some of that is intrinsic, a lot of that is coaching. He shuffled his roster routinely to get the right pairings on the field to exploit match ups, knowing his players’ strengths and weaknesses and capitalizing on the pluses while not getting exploited by the minuses. It is impressive how interchangeable the team’s lineup became at stretches and yet how well they could all play together.

Again, some of that is ability, a lot of it is coaching. His personnel nuance is even better when looked at through the lens of his roster’s adversity — yes they are Syracuse and have a lot of talent, but a lot of players expected to make big contributions went down early, and the team still exceeded expectations. And look at his team’s play in one-goal games. The poise, discipline and confidence needed to gut out that many wins comes down from the coaching staff, not to mention often the plays scripted up to pull out those games.

From being on the sidelines with Syracuse during their game against Georgetown it might be easier for me to pick against Desko here, as he comes across as fairly low energy and hands off in games, not tinkering with much or hollering constantly from the sideline trying to micromanage the action, but if anything that experience pushed me more to vote for him. The calm confidence he held all game you could sense amongst his charges, and his simple yet impactful instructions carried the day in a difficult game ending a brutal two week slog for the Orange.

At the end of the day, if I told you back in February that Syracuse would go 16-4 and make the national championship game let alone hold a lead heading into the second half, I’d be looked at skeptically at best. Now if I say John Desko might have had his best year coaching a Syracuse squad a lot of that incredulity vanishes.

Terry Foy (@TerenceFoy)

Scott Marr, Albany — I agree with Zach’s assessment of the job Desko and his staff did, and so does Brian Coughlin. I also was very close to giving the nod to Yale’s Andy Shay who, in case this story isn’t clear enough, I think has done a very good job in getting better as a coach, improving his staff and building a sustainable Bulldog program.

But I think Scott Marr did the best coaching job this year because he made at the very least a top five (if not the single-)most important personnel move last offseason by triggering Lyle Thompson’s move from midfield to attack and managed to lead a team that (albeit, has a couple of talented players that any coach in the country would want on his roster) went 12-4 while playing at DI’s fastest pace while saving and facing off at sub-50%. That’s very tough to do. And on top of that, I must applaud Albany’s year-over-year improvement; playing a tougher schedule with very similar offensive personnel, the Great Danes went from winning .313 to .750 in 2013. Really impressive job out of the Marr and his staff.

John Jiloty (@jjiloty)

John Danowski, Duke — I guess I’ll take the layup, John Danowski. I ran into both John and Matt Danowski at the Loyola-Maryland game on Feb. 23 in Baltimore, the day after the Devils were trounced by Penn 14-9 to drop to 2-3 on the season. Matt, the rookie assistant for Duke, seemed genuinely bummed out, and a little perplexed, by the rough start. John, however, didn’t seem to mind. Pretty typical for a guy who has done an amazing job over the last five years of evolving teams during a season and never panicking. This year with his second title in four years, John Danowski cemented himself among the greatest lacrosse coaches. He may not do it the normal way, and he may be one of the toughest guys to get a hold of in lacrosse, but he is an amazing coach and he clearly did a phenomenal job taking Duke from a 2-3 start to a 16-5 finish.

Casey Vock (@CVock)

Danowski-Desko Tossup — What strikes me in this argument is that there are some similarities between the two coaches who I would consider the favorites — I can see a strong case for John Desko at Syracuse and John Danowski at Duke. Both of these guys are more of the Zen Master, laid back type of guys. They each were fantastic this season in their personnel management and in their motivation of their teams. Desko and Danowski both had their share of challenges. Desko had to overcome the loss of some potential impact players, bringing a lot of newbies into the fold and still making that work, as Babo points out, while losing a lot of face-offs. Danowski turns a team that looked average early into the season into a force, managing a lot of guys that would be considered star players and getting some of them into different spots on the field.

Both coaches made their teams better by the end of the year. It’s tough to pick against either of these coaches. If you look at what the Orange accomplished and how they were able to win games, probably better than any other team this year, it’s really impressive and so much of that should be credited to the coaching staff. Bringing a team to the Final Four in seven straight seasons speaks to the quality of coach Danowski is. At the end of regulatuon on Memorial Day, it was Danowski who was the victor, and he was classy in that celebration. I could go back and forth between these guys all day. But to me, what these two coaching performances showed us this season was that the cooler, relaxed approach — I call Danowski’s “golf course swagger” — can do wonders for a team as it is changing and finding itself throughout a season. For that, I think they are both worthy of this honor this season.

Matt Kinnear (@MattKinnear)

John Danowski, Duke — He's up for an ESPY, and he constantly surprises everyone with his coaching ability, even though at this point nothing should surprise us about him. He truly got the best out of his players when it mattered. He's unique and an innovator in this sport.

It's clearly a two-horse race, but there are many coaches who deserve some attention:

Shawn Nadelen, Towson: He's clearly gone through some growing pains by trying to do a radical change of culture with the Tigers. But this year — toward the end of the season — proved its working.

Mike Pressler, Bryant: Again, another team that looked like it was dead in the water early in the season. Quality coaching righted the ship and got this team into the NCAA Tournament. If he's not coach of the year, he's certainly got my vote for best coaching story of the year.

Chris Gabrielli, Providence: Another coach instituting change. The difference in this team compared with years past is striking.

ILWomen.com's Danielle Bernstein (@DaniBernstein)

For the women, I’m going with North Carolina’s Jenny Levy, who was named the IWLCA Coach of the Year this week and was the Dani Award winner for Coach of the Year.